“It’s Mack, Mack Hatcher,” Moore said with a smile after he removed a stuffed bunny from inside.

The announcement of the northwest extension of Mack Hatcher Parkway was only one of many items Moore was happy to see accomplished in the last year. Moore reviewed Franklin’s successes and future during his annual State of the City address.

“I want to try to inform you how we are addressing your current concerns,” Moore said.

It’s now been one year since the City of Franklin voted to increase property taxes by a dime for Invest Franklin, an initiative to fund more transportation and infrastructure projects.

Since then, the city has compiled a list of projects that contains $88 million worth of improvements. Some of those projects have included resurfacing streets throughout the city. Most recently, it means expanding East McEwen Drive to four lanes between Oxford Glen Drive and Wilson Pike.

As Moore explained, traffic remains the top issue for those in Franklin based on what he hears daily to the latest survey results the city collected.

“We’ve become the victim of our own success,” Moore said. “So we have to continue to focus on traffic and rapid growth. They are unique to our region. When we study the growth projections for Tennessee, we find two million more people will come. One million will come to Middle Tennessee.”

The city will also invest money into a permanent fire station in the Goose Creek area along with expanding the parks’ footprint in the southeastern portion of Franklin.

“We are all over planning and understanding the impact of growth in the community,” Moore said. “Right now, we are planned out 35 years for city operation. We have a big project book, and we can’t do every single one, but we have stepped up. And we always want input from our community.”

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